Sinlung Says: Its a shame that whole of India is waiting for a bronze, a country with more than a billion in population. It says a lot about the people, let alone sports.

Boxers Vijender Singh and his
childhood friend Jai Bhagwan made their way to round 16 with convincing
victories at the London Olympics.

Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images

Bronze medallist Gagan Narang of
India poses with the bronze medal won in the Men's 10m Air Rifle
Shooting final final on Day 3 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at The
Royal Artillery Barracks on July 30, 2012 in London, England.

London, July 30 — India's rifle shooter Gagan
Narang clinched the bronze medal in the men's 10-metre air rifle event
of the 2012 London Olympics while his illustrious compatriot and
defending champion Abhinav Bindra failed to qualify for the final round
at Royal Artillery Barracks here Monday.
The gold went to Romanian
Alin George Moldoveanu with a total score of 702.1 (599 qualifying,
103.1 final) and Italian Niccolo Campriani bagged the silver with 701.5
(599 qualifying, 102.5 final).
Narang, who is participating in his
third Games, had a total score of 701.1 (598 qualifying, 103.1 final).
Going into the final round, Narang was third.
In the final round,
Narang had a series of 10.7, 9.7, 10.6, 10.7, 10.4, 10.6, 9.9, 9.5, 10.3
and 10.7 to give India its first medal from the London Games.
It
was the third time in row that Indian shooters had won medals at the
Olympics. Double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the silver
in 2004, Bindra gave India a historic gold in Beijing, and now Narang
has bagged a bronze in London.
Bindra, India's only individual Olympic gold medallist, failed to qualify as he shot 594 to finish 16th out of 47 contestants.
In
the qualifying round, Narang, who missed the final round in Beijing
Games on a countback, was in his elements. The 29-year-old Hyderabadi
shot perfect series of 100 in all the rounds except the third when he
scored 98. He also shot 53 inner 10s.
Bindra had just two series
of perfect 100 in the third and the fourth round. He shot 99s in the
first, second and fifth and faltered in the sixth, when he shot 97. The
top eight shooters qualified for the final round. Former Olympic
champion and Beijing Games silver medallist Zhu Qinan of China also
failed to qualify for the final round.